STEPS to TACKLE a CHILD

Few days ago, I heard an educationist suggesting a method of nurturing a child in a very unusual way. Though, it sounded very strange but when thought over it and analysed I considered it to be a very proper step.

The educationist suggested that to inculcate right values in a child and help it to grow with a healthy mind, the concerned people, must follow a specific rule. A child, a man in the making, must be treated differently according to their age.

The age of a child during the growing phase should be divided into four stages. Every stage has its own tackling process. The divisions are as such:

1) From zero months to three years- Treat the child as God. This is the age when a baby is almost like an Almighty. It must be respected and worshipped as its creator.

2) From four to twelve years- Let the child feel like a king. Give it all the importance. Make him think one among others. Giving priority does not mean to allow the child to do misdeeds or ignore his disrespectful attitude. Over pampering must be avoided. It’s only to give the child a little value and not simply ignore it for being a kid. As for example- take a little help from the child or involve it in some small decision making or a little preference over the rest and so on.

3) From thirteen to nineteen years- Just treat the child as a slave, physically and mentally, both. Treating like a slave dose not mean that the responsible elders have to be inhuman. The basic thing is to prepare the child mentally and physically strong. Will power to be strengthened.Make the child ready for this world which is full of varied challenges. Pampering at this age, fulfilling all the unjustified demands and tolerating its misbehaviour mean a bad man in the making. This needs to be carefully checked and handled properly. If we fail to do so there is a high probability that the child will not be self dependent, will be lazy, ill-mannered and self-centered.

Recently, I discussed the condition of considering the teenagers as slave with the present teenagers and 'no' is the one word in which they shot back. The teenagers of this age completely disagree with the thought of considering them as slave. They are not ready to understand the fact that the word 'slave' here only represents the strengthening of mind and body by making them do their all sorts of work. The teenagers take 'slave' to be a negative word. They feel slave is similar to bonded labour. Today's teenagers think that all their freedom will be axed and they will be treated in a bad manner.

I feel that the way the teenagers think it's only because of the parents' over pampering. Present age parents (mostly) are working so they can afford a lot and they never bothered to instill few basic things in their child rather encouraged them to be like a dictator, doing nothig of their own but expecting it to be done by others. If this persists without any constraint then I am sorry to say that the day is not far away when the parents will become the slave of their children.

Here, a huge responsibility is on the parents' shoulder. Doing little things at home, sharing responsibilities with others in the family, accepting liberty within limitation, making no undue demands or be considerate according to one's own family and not try to act by comparing with any other family and few such more should be constantly mentioned to the children of any age especially to the teenagers. These teenagers are extremely exposed to the luxuries and comfort so they are unwilling to shed all the facilities. In such a situation the parents must handle them with care and very softly keep on reminding the basics on and off which may not be instantly effective but in the long run will prove to be quite good and help to build a healthy generation.

4) From twenty and onwards- Make the child a friend. The moment the child becomes a friend it leads to a healthy environment. During this stage everything under the sky can be discussed without hesitation. The doubts of a child can be clarified openly. This gives an ample opportunity to a child, a bud, who for sure can bloom like a flower with fragrance, i.e. good qualities.

The above mentioned stages, I find quite interesting as well as very helpful. I have started imbibing it and using it upon my nine year old child. My child, is going through the second stage, and believe me, paying him a little more importance brings a great smile on his face., Naturally, he performs his work with extra zeal.

Expecting you all to think over and give it a go, I am confident it will turn out to be a wonderful training process. Make a move.

Caution- To go by the given norms, extreme rigidity must be avoided because we should not forget that every child is a different human being.